FEMA Seeks Comments on New BRIC Guidance

One of the key provisions of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA) is a new mitigation funding program called the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program.

This program replaces the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program with a formula-based program based on 6% of total disaster costs each year, with a projected yearly mitigation pot of about $200-$300 million.

ASFPM is sharing with you the much-anticipated release of the BRIC Policy and encouraging you to submit comments to FEMA:

• The BRIC proposed policy is available here.
• Please review the request for comment here.

FEMA published the proposed BRIC policy and asked for comments and input to be provided no later than May 11, 2020. This policy will guide the 2021 implementation and execution of this mitigation grant program. FEMA also developed and launched a website dedicated to BRIC, which includes key information and a summary of stakeholder input.

ASFPM has a long history of promoting a stronger investment in mitigation funding, not only because it has a 6:1 benefit/cost ratio in use of taxpayer dollars by reducing flood damages, but it also makes homeowners and businesses safer and communities more resilient. This fund provides cost sharing grants to states, communities, tribes, and territories to build disaster resilience. The guidance is relatively broad with the hope it can result in innovative solutions to disaster risk mitigation, and will foster community, regional, state, and national partnerships in this effort.

We’ll have more details on BRIC in the April issue of The Insider. In the meantime, please visit the above links to learn more about the policy.